Manslaughter charges for nursing home owners for not evacuating clients during Hurricane Katrina

[Caligula]

news story here

What do people think of this?

I must say, I was amazed when I heard this on the radio this morning. While these people obviously were very negligent, weren't they just following the example of the Louisiana authorities - ie: do sod all to prepare for a hurricane?

How the hell were they supposed to arrange transport for people who needed medical care when the authorities did nothing to provide such specialised tranpsort?

FFS!

Well I must admit, that did occur to me. I wonder if they asked anyone for any help on this?

My first thought was that if it's appropriate to charge these people with negligent homicide, then presumably the same will apply to whoever failed to evacuate the 40+ dead from the hospital...??

Not to mention the charming former head of FEMA who left the scene in Louisiana to return to Washington for a "kiss from my wife, a good meal with a strong Margarita and a proper night's sleep". Lucky old him.
I notice that the Manganos may not be middle class WASPs from their descriptions, of course. Still aiming a few kicks at the South's ethnic minority residents from the sound of things.

I thought the point was that they turned down ambulances and buses that could have taken the residents to safety?

Can see that they were faced with a tricky problem though. What if they had accepted the ambulances, then someone had died en route, and the nursing home hadn't been flooded?